Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1031063
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 SEPTEMBER 2018 (Temporary leasing of office space) The Ministry for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change is accepting expressions of interest for the temporary leasing of office space for Ambjent Malta Department. All the relevant documentation may be downloaded from https://msdec.gov.mt The closing date of this Expression of Interest is October 2, 2018 at 10am. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST MINISTRY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 They stressed that the basis of the collective agreement signed in January was that pilots would offer greater flexibility and fly more hours, in accordance with internationally established lim - its, in return for salary increas- es. The sources said that after pilots had got their salary in- crease, management was ex- pecting them to be more coop- erative when it came to solving rostering problems with the airline. Instead, they said, there had been an increase in the number of pilots availing them - selves of sick leave in recent months. Since the start of the year, the airline has pursued an aggres - sive growth strategy, adding a number of new routes to its network and almost doubling the utilisation of each of its air - craft. While the increased flying hours could result in more fa- tigue, the sources said that the management were viewing the increase in sick leave as an in- tentional and indirect way of carrying out industrial action. "The increase in flights has brought along new challenges that the Air Malta more or less acknowledges and is in talks with the union about," the sources said, pointing out that the company had started the process of recruiting new pilots to ensure fewer instances where it was short of flight crew. The sources said Air Malta was planning on having the necessary crew compliment by February, once the recruitment process was completed and pi - lots were trained accordingly. Cancelled flight cost airline €200,000 The situation took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when a scheduled Paris flight was can- celled due to a lack of available crew. The cancellation is esti- mated to have cost Air Malta something in the region of €200,000, the sources said not- ing that it wasn't an insignificant figure especially when consider- ing its current financial position. Air Malta said the flight had been cancelled because of an "unprecedented number of pi - lots reporting sick concurrent- ly". On its part, ALPA said that from a "preliminary and limited investigation" it had carried out, it transpired that on the day in question two pilots had reported sick in the morning, and could not report for duty. It said that a third pilot who was meant to be on standby duty had been on sick leave for over a week. "Pilots are legally bound not to fly when sick and may only report for work again when cleared by a doctor." the union said. "An Air Malta appointed Aeromedical Examiner visited the pilots concerned and certi - fied they were unfit to fly." The union said that following the rapid increase in flights op- erated by Air Malta, "without the necessary increase in pilot numbers, there was an alarming increase of instance where the company asked pilots to operate flights illegally". "There is also an alarming increase in pilots reporting fa - tigued due to ridiculous roster patterns, "the union said, adding that when this had been brought up with the airline's Chief Offic- er Flight operations it was told that pilots should check their own flight time regulations and limits. "Taking into consideration that Air Malta was asking crew to operate illegally and at high levels of fatigue, ALPA issued recommendations to its mem - bers in the interest of safety of pilots and passengers," it said. Pilots, ALPA said, were ad- vised to contact the executive committee whenever they were asked to "operate beyond what was published in their roster. "It is ultimately up to the individual to accept a flight or not." Screenshots of ALPA posts sent to MaltaToday show that while pilots were free to decide for themselves, the union was applying a name and shame ap - proach to those that choose to comply with the company. Talks underway regarding health insurance In addition to rostering is- sues, the sources said talks were also underway regarding pilots' Permanent Health Insurance, included in the collective agree - ment. The insurance covers pilots against any injury that could prevent them from being able to continue flying and ensures that they continue to receive their salary in such an eventuality. The sources said that after the agreement was signed in Janu - ary, Air Malta was informed by the insurance broker that it would no longer be offering the cover, meaning that this part of the collective agreement needed to be renegotiated. "Talks between the airline and the union recom - menced in June after the broker informed the com- pany that the cover could no longer be given," the source said. "Then, over the course of the discussions other issues came up." Pilots who spoke to MaltaToday pointed out that there was reason to believe that the company had been informed about the change prior to the sign - ing of the agree- ment, but did not disclose this in- formation to the union, in order for an agreement to be reached as soon as possible. Pilot suspension a knee-jerk reaction to public outcry Meanwhile, the airline an- nounced on Friday that it had suspended one of its pilots over a comment posted online some five months ago, in which the pilot in question appeared to joke about a technical fault de - veloped by Air Malta's newest aircraft. The union said in a statement that the pilot's suspension was a "knee-jerk reaction by the com - pany's management to a public outcry regarding a misleading media article". It said that the pilot in ques - tion referred to the irony in an aircraft "following an ALPA di- rective", while noting that the comment had been posted in a closed pilot group. "This was maliciously taken out of context by the person who forwarded it to an online political party portal," the union said. It added that the suspension was also an "attack on a repre - sentative of the pilot work force intended only to intimidate the pilot community". ALPA has adopted a name and shame approach towards pilots agreeing to operate flights not published in their rosters Cancelled flights to and from Paris cost Air Malta €200,000 NEWS